Gerry Adams’ brother found guilty of raping daughter

BELFAST- A brother of prominent Northern Irish politician Gerry Adams was found guilty on Tuesday of raping his daughter when she was a child.

Liam Adams, 58, was convicted at Belfast Crown Court of 10 charges of rape and sexual abuse dating back more than 30 years against his eldest child Aine who waived her right to anonymity. He had denied all charges.

Gerry Adams, president of the nationalist Sinn Fein party, was for years the face of republican opposition to British rule in Northern Ireland and was once interned as a guerrilla suspect. He has dissociated himself from his brother since the allegations.

Liam Adams fled across the border to the Irish Republic after Aine made the allegations in 1987 and was extradited to Northern Ireland in 2011.

His daughter told the trial the sexual abuse took place between 1977 and 1983 and started when she was five and her mother was in hospital giving birth to her younger brother.

Aine said she first made allegations against her father in 1987 but later withdrew them because the police at the time seemed more interested in gathering information against her uncle Gerry.